Narrow Bridge (3.5e Martial Discipline)

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Author: JoshuaZ Date Created: June 7th, 2009 Status: Transferring Editing: Clarity edits only please

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The Narrow Bridge was first studied by an order of monks who studied the border of life and death. The practitioners of The Narrow Bridge understand that death and life are more closely intertwined than most realize. Those trained in the proper martial arts can cross the narrow bridge that separates life from unlife. While most practitioners of The Narrow Bridge are living, it is not uncommon for undead martial warriors to also dabble in the techniques.

Although the discipline involves much use of negative energy and undeath, it also involves the use of positive energy and the ability to combat the undead. It is thus not wholly evil, but a mix of powers.

The great masters of the discipline realized the ease at which the discipline could be abused and so were very careful to not teach the discipline to many outsiders. Traditionally, a master would take on a single disciple at a time, one whose ethics and outlooks matched those of the master. However, over time the discipline has slowly become more widely practiced.

The Narrow Bridge was never taught at the Temple of Nine Swords. Due to its association with necromancy and the undead, Reshar disliked the discipline and thus never dedicated much time studying it although he did locate a master who was willing to teach him the basics. In addition to his own dislike, the highly specialized nature of much of the discipline and the reticence of masters to teach it has stopped many martial warriors from taking too much effort to master its techniques.

The associated skill of The Narrow Bridge is Knowledge (religion).

The associated weapons are the bastard sword, battleaxe, greataxe, scythe, unarmed strike, and whip.

All Narrow Bridge maneuvers are supernatural unless stated otherwise.

There are two ways to master the discipline. The first is to have been trained in it. If you choose to make a martial adept that has already been trained in the Narrow Bridge discipline at character creation, you simply replace one discipline that adept could normally learn maneuvers from with the Narrow Bridge discipline. Note that The Narrow Bridge should generally be considered a replacement discipline for swordsages and then crusaders. The supernatural nature of the discipline make it potentially inappropriate as a as a starting discipline for warblades.

The other way is to seek out a master of the Narrow Bridge discipline–a martial adept capable of using at least 5th-level maneuvers from the discipline. You must train for a month under the master and spend 1,000 xp at the end of your training. You gain the ability to learn maneuvers from the Narrow Bridge discipline. In addition, you may exchange your maneuvers known for maneuvers of the Narrow Bridge discipline. You may exchange one maneuver of each level, and the new maneuvers you learn must be of the same level as the exchanged maneuvers, unlike normal. The difficulty of finding an appropriate mentor is left to the DM to choose.

Game Mechanics of the Narrow Bridge

Available To: Crusader, Swordsage

Discipline Skill: Knowledge (Religion) (Int)

Discipline Weapons: bastard sword, battleaxe, greataxe, scythe, unarmed strike, and whip

Maneuvers of the Narrow Bridge Discipline

To see the full, expanded description of every maneuver, click here.

1st-Level Maneuvers

• Death to the Living: Strike — Deals 1d6+1/2IL negative energy damage.
• Empower The Dead: Stance — Gives bonuses to allied undead.
• Life Without Life: Strike — Deals 1d6 damage and prevents the target from being healed.
• Peaceful End: Strike — Deals extra damage against undead and deathless targets.
• Soulshield: Stance — protects against effects from undead and death effects.

2nd-Level Maneuvers

• Blind the Dead: Strike — Undead subject to this strike are unable to see you.
• Burn the Dead: Strike [Fire Light] — Targets take extra fire damage and undead with light vulnerability take further damage.
• Cross the Bridge: Stance — Mindless undead treat you as undead and you take less damage from some forms of vile damage.
• Disrupt Necromantic Power: Strike — Deals 2d6 extra damage against undead, deathless or beings capable of casting necromancy spells.
• Fear of Death: Strike [Mind-affecting Fear] — Targets must make a will save or be frightened for 1d4 rounds.
• Putrefy the Flesh: Strike — Deals extra damage over the course of multiple rounds depending on the creature type.

3rd-Level Maneuvers

• Harness The Soul's Power: Strike — Gain effects similar to the spell Death Knell that you may keep for yourself or give to an ally.
• Pierce Soul: Strike — Target must make a fortitude or be paralyzed.
• Rebuking Blow: Strike — Target is subject to a rebuke undead attempt by a cleric of your initiator level.
• See Those who Have Yet to Die: Stance — Duplicates the Deathwatch spell.
• Strength of Life: Boost — Gain 1d10 temporary hit points +1 per an initiator level.
• Turning Strike: Strike — Target is subject to a turn undead attempt by a cleric of your initiator level.
• Walk the Narrow Bridge: Stance — You are effected less by both negative and positive energy.

4th-Level Maneuvers

• Die to Serve: Strike — Strike deals extra 3d6 damage and if the target dies it becomes a temporary zombie which serves you.
• Disrupt the Flow: Strike — Undead struck have their effective hit die for turning and rebuking purposes reduced by a function of a Knowledge (religion) check.
• Guardian of the Dead: Stance — It becomes harder to rebuke or turn allied undead and non-allied undead have trouble creating spawn within 100 feet of you.
• Life Drain: Strike — Target takes 1d6 extra damage and half the damage from the attack is changed into healing energy you may bestow on yourself or an ally.
• Momento Vixisti: Strike — Target undead takes various penalties as it recalls life.
• Shared Souls: Stance — You and designated allies do not fail saves unless all of you fail the saves.
• Stand Against Death: Counter — You substitute a Knowledge (religion) check for a save against an undead being.
• The Flesh Still Lives: Strike — Strike deals an extra 4d6 vile damage.

5th-Level Maneuvers

• Even the Dead Fear Death: Strike — Undead take 5d6 damage + 1 per an initiator level and must make a will save or be panicked.
• None Truly Control the Dead Forever: Strike — Target must make a will save or lose control of undead it controls.
• Preserve the Soul: Stance — Duplicates the effects of the Death Ward spell.

6th-Level Maneuvers

• Embrace the Vampire: Stance — Gain DR 10/silver or magic and other vampiric bonuses.
• Reflect Death: Counter — Reflects back against foe any death effects you are subject to.
• Scream of the Dying: Strike [Sonic Mind-affecting Fear] — Strike deals sonic damage and target must make a will save or be shaken.
• Slash the Spirit: Strike — Deals extra damage against incorporeal undead and ignores the miss chance against incorporeal beings.

7th-Level Maneuvers

• Life is Precious: Strike [Death] — Deals an extra 6d6 damage and the target must make a fortitude save or die.
• Rebuke the Controller: Strike — Deals 6d6 damage to an undead being and deals extra damage to anyone controlling it.
• Return to the Grave: Stance — Allows you to make critical hits against undead.

8th-Level Maneuvers

• Destroy the Source: Strike — Strike destroys an undead target as well as its spawn.
• Fear of the Coming Oblivion: Strike [Mind-affecting Fear] — You deal 10d6 extra damage and the target must make a will save or be panicked.
• The Flesh Crawls: Strike — You deal an extra 12d6 damage and half the damage from the attack is vile damage.

9th-Level Maneuvers

• Final Rest: Strike — You deal 15d6 extra damage and undead must make a will save or be destroyed.

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